“Let’s do this, boys!” Tanner shouted, smacking his fists against Graham and Crawford’s thighs. Graham jostled him with his shoulder and kept talking to Mickey.
He fucking loved this team. Loved the way they were all coming together as a group.
It was Graham’s line up next, and he was over the boards, flying as he raced toward the Dallas end, looking for an opportunity to score.
Unfortunately, the third period quickly turned scrappy, with Dallas taking exception to a hit Crawford laid on one of their guys.
Their penalty kill unit went out, and thanks to Rafe and Mickey’s best efforts, they kept Dallas from scoring.
Unfortunately, they were still leading by a goal.
The mood was a little grim on the bench until Crawford got back from the penalty box and grinned. “Well, that was nice and quiet, for once.”
Graham laughed and glanced to his right, spying Vintage Jersey Guy with his niece curled up on his lap. He pressed an absent kiss to the top of her head and Graham smiled.
Despite the things Crawford said about him, he seemed like a nice guy. Then again, Graham had never been the focus of his ire either.
It wasn’t long before Graham was back out on the ice, his focus and attention squarely on getting pucks to the net. Theyhadto get one in.
He had a good breakaway chance but as he was about to get a shot off, one of Dallas’ defensemen skidded into view, making Graham pull up short.
He whiffed his shot and it went wide, bouncing harmlessly off the boards where another Dallas player scooped it up.
Graham let out a groan of frustration and pivoted, already digging in to race down the ice after him.
The minutes ticked away on the clock and Graham gritted his teeth and dug deep. Every shift out felt like grind, with too many hard checks against the boards and too few shots on goal.
They were approaching the final five minutes, still down 2-1, when Coach Hoyt called out to them on the bench. “Guys, youneed to tighten up the defense. I want more pressure in their zone, more bodies around the net.”
He went on to call out a few more instructions and Graham nodded as he listened intently.
He got a lucky break on his next shift out, a Dallas forward fumbling a shot and allowing Graham to capture it. He wheeled around the net, calling to Connor, who was down low in the slot.
He fired the puck to Connor who snapped it up in a beautiful little backhand shot that sailed over the goalie’s shoulder before he had time to react.
Relieved, Graham collided with him, and they joyously spun for a moment in a little circle before several more guys slammed into them.
“Nice one, Captain!” Tanner hollered as they broke apart and Connor grinned, punching him in the arm before skating off to get his fist taps from the bench.
Graham watched intently through the next few shifts as Mickey and Erik both got a couple of good chances but were denied by Dallas’ goaltender.
When Graham was on the ice again, he pushed hard, shouldering aside a Dallas player who kept trying to swipe the puck from him.
Graham fired it to Anker, who passed to Tanner, who sent it back to Graham as Crawford got up close to the goaltender, providing an effective screen.
Graham shot the puck, holding his breath as it slipped past Crawford’s skates, through the five-hole of Dallas’ goalie, and into the net.
Graham let out a whoop, suddenly surrounded by Harriers players. Crawford collided with him hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs and Tanner hollered something so loud in his ear he dizzily wondered if he’d ever hear again.
He was beaming as he skated up to the bench and caught a glimpse of Thad’s video camera trained on him.
He smiled, hoping Thad could see the love he felt. With one hand steadying the camera, Thad pressed the other fist to his chest.
Graham felt a wave of emotion go through him, the heady joy of playing great hockey and being in love swirling through him until he couldn’t stop the wide grin spreading across his face.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Following their win, the Harriers milled around the locker room talking to Noah and Simon. The mood was high, and Thad had finished recording.
